Empire in Black and Gold
Jun. 2nd, 2019 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearContinuing with my Adrian Tchaikovsky obsession, I recently read Empire in Black and Gold, the first in the epic fantasy Shadows of the Apt series, of which there are currently ten novels completed.
Unfortunately, though the writing is good, the world is interesting and the characters are appealing, it didn't grab me enough to want to carry on with the series. Basically, there was just too much fighting and not enough of everything else. I was also confused by how the different types of humans are affiliated with different types of insects, as the rules by which their various abilities manifest aren't explained very clearly. It also falls into the "every person within one racial type is the same" trope (ants fight, mantids bear grudges, beetles are stolid, spiders are sneaky, etc), even if the protagonists themselves do have a certain amount of nuance within that.
I did like the group of students thrown into a world of spying and intrigue well beyond their depth. And I also liked the way the bad guy developed into a more three-dimensional character as the novel went on.
But I found myself skimming the battles more and more and, in the end, it didn't feel as if there had been enough plot to fill a 600 page book. Having read other, similarly martial series before, I suspect the balance of fighting vs character/plot will likely swing even further towards the fighting as things progress, so I'll be leaving it here.
Lots more stand-alone Tchaikovsky to try, though!
Unfortunately, though the writing is good, the world is interesting and the characters are appealing, it didn't grab me enough to want to carry on with the series. Basically, there was just too much fighting and not enough of everything else. I was also confused by how the different types of humans are affiliated with different types of insects, as the rules by which their various abilities manifest aren't explained very clearly. It also falls into the "every person within one racial type is the same" trope (ants fight, mantids bear grudges, beetles are stolid, spiders are sneaky, etc), even if the protagonists themselves do have a certain amount of nuance within that.
I did like the group of students thrown into a world of spying and intrigue well beyond their depth. And I also liked the way the bad guy developed into a more three-dimensional character as the novel went on.
But I found myself skimming the battles more and more and, in the end, it didn't feel as if there had been enough plot to fill a 600 page book. Having read other, similarly martial series before, I suspect the balance of fighting vs character/plot will likely swing even further towards the fighting as things progress, so I'll be leaving it here.
Lots more stand-alone Tchaikovsky to try, though!
